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jcatcw writes "While a tech camping event might sound like an oxymoron, hackers, makers, breakers and shakers assembled at the northwestern tip of the USA for ToorCamp and dispelled the notion that all hackers avoid sunshine and the great outdoors. As you would expect from a hacker conference, there were workshops like the one for lock picking and a plethora of presentations from "hacking computers to brain hacking, from brewing soda to fighting robots, from civil rights to lightning guns." Then unique aspects of this cool hacker camp get more bizarre . . like the laser that was so bright it required FAA clearance to deploy it, the ShadyTel community 'payphone,' the Temple of Robotron, an RFID implantation station, bike jousting, dancing robots and of course campfires. Need an even stranger adventure that's also in the ToorCon family of hacking conferences? There's the upcoming WorldToor, the first ever hacker conference in Antarctica."

Pekka Himanen (The Hacker Ethic) articulates how hackers represent a new, opposing ethos for the information age. That there are values underneath their actions and creations that challenge us all. They share a spirit that they can discover and create great things in imaginative ways. They questions cultural "norms" in a society that is often overly focused on outcomes at the expense of privacy and equality.

The cost and potential profit motives of such adventures (and lack of universal access) seem to be

I have to say I hated that "Microsoft" lettering on the wristband, which is why I covered it in duct tape. I even got an "Exchange Microsoft" t-shirt in nice Microsoft orange at Hal2001 [wikipedia.org] that I brought with me for nostalgic reasons and guess what - I was not brave enough to even wear it!
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Then again, one of the corporate whore uber hackers from my village was employed by M$ and as I really liked him, so I didn't want to risk insulting him.

Now that I found a photo from that exchange Microsoft shirt [boskemper.nl], probably the last one of its kind, I wonder where I have lost my anti-RIAA/MPAA shirt (the one on the very right with a Mickey Mouse silhouette)?

ProTip: Electrical tape will cover better, although require additional reapplications.;)
Maybe there is a solvent for the injected ink?

The wristband company did make the logo awfully big on the the black bands (but not the others). That being said, using MS money for things like camp infrastructure (or soup!) isn't a bad thing if it helps us all.

Do members of a group really need to be told they don't necessarily conform to the stereotype? Imagine telling a crowd of women that they aren't all irrational and overly emotional because some subset of them joined the debate club. It's still insulting, because of the presumption.